Gene Wolfe was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1931, the only child of Roy E. Wolfe and Mary Olivia Ayers Wolfe. Since his parents lived in New Jersey, he appears to have been born by mail order. One of his earliest memories is of a beautiful blue-eyed young woman; a lock of auburn hair has escaped her gray cloche; she is tucking a blanket around him so that he can sleep on a seat in a railway car. His family moved and moved, settling in Houston, TX, while he was still a small boy.

There he attended Edgar Allen Poe Elementary School, where children read "The Masque of the Red Death"and memorized poems of soul-stirring morbidity. He loved it. Eventually he dropped out of Texas A&M, losing his student deferment. He was drafted and sent to Korea, where he served in the 7th Infantry Division. The Chinese Army missed him, and he was once told with searing contempt that cutting his thumb on a ration can did not qualify him for a purple heart.

Discharged, he eventually graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He did not really invent Pringles, though he was involved in the design of the first equipment used to make them. (He says they’re unspeakably delicious when eaten hot out of the salter.) Shortly after graduating, he married Rosemary Dietsch; together they had four children.

After 17 years as an engineer, he moved to Barrington, IL, to become a senior editor on Plant Engineering Magazine. He was the glue and screw editor, and the robotics editor. Also the letters-to-the-editor editor and the cartoon editor. He covered gears, bearings, belts, hydraulic power, and much else. Perusing dusty files, the tireless historian may discover letters from one Buck Coulson and one Bob Tucker; desperately short of material, the letter column editor sometimes begged letters from his friends.

It was wonderful job, with a good salary and a generous expense account; but by 1984 it was clear that the good old days would soon be over, and he resigned to write full-time. By the goodwill of the editor-in-chief, Leo Spector, he got a farewell dinner at which a dozen speakers insulted shamefully. He then rose and insulted all of them back, ending his little talk by throwing aside his orange trade-show jacket, his tie, and his white shirt. Beneath it he wore a T-shirt: REALITY IS A CRUTCH FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN’T HANDLE SCIENCE FICTION. Since then he has described himself as retired when telling the truth would make a fuss.

He has written The Fifth Head of Cerberus, The Shadow of the Torturer, Nightside the Long Sun, On Blue's Waters, Peace, The Knight, The Wizard, Soldier of the Mist, An Evil Guest, The Sorcerer's House, Home Fires, and various others. Some of his short stories are collected in Gene Wolfe's Book of Days, Strange Travelers, Endangered Species, and others. A tribute book of stories by generous friends, Shadows of the New Sun, should appear in August. A new novel, The Land Across, is scheduled for November. (All the books mentioned above are from Tom Doherty Associates, LLC. Many are available as ebooks.)

He has won four World Fantasy Awards, two Nebulas, the Fuller Award, and others. In 2013, he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.